(first posted 3/7/2013) That the Russians were big fans of Packard’s designs is indisputable. The famous ZIS-110 was a heavily cribbed 1942 Packard Super (the story of Packard sending its body dies for the 180 to Russia has long been debunked). Its successor, the ZIL-111 drew its inspiration from the same 1955 Packard as does this Chaika, a “smaller” limo for the less well connected party bosses. Somehow, to me they do look more “Russian” than a Cadillac clone would have, or am I just under the spell of these cars? So when DeeTwoAr posted some very detailed shots of a Chaika at the Cohort, they quickly found their way here.

Compared to the top-line ZIL, equivalent to the Patrician, the Chaika was more like a Clipper: smaller, and decidedly more modest in its ornamentation, right down to the dog-dish hubcaps on this one. They didn’t all come with those, but it rather adds to the appeal. And of course, there’s other American design genes there too; it’s almost like a cross between a Packard and a Checker, with a bit of Mercury thrown in for good measure.

I’ve seen plenty of shots of Chaikas, but never their interiors. Although it has some differences, it too looks very much inspired by the ’55 Packard instrument panel. I’m particular fond of this vintage American big-car design, and this Chaika is growing on me.

Nikita Kruschev, who never did fully escape his small-town ways, was known to prefer the more modest Chaika over the ZIL, and kept one at his dacha.

That sure looks familiar. The Chaika had a 5.5 L (335 cubic inch) V8 with some 190 hp, teamed up to an automatic said to be similar to a Fordomatic, operated by push buttons. I wonder what the engine resembles? Has anyone ever torn one apart to see which American V8 inspired it? Packard’s new 1955 V8? It should not come as a surprise to know that the Chaika M13 arrived in 1958, three years after the ’55 Packard. As did the big ZIL.

Here’s the rear end, but the two lower corner sections of the bumper are missing. The exhausts run out through their tips, like some American cars of the times. Perhaps they were damaged from that, and are being re-chromed.

While it’s nice to see the interior and the engine, DeeTwoAr didn’t post a good shot of the whole front end, so I’m borrowing this one from wikipedia. It’s rather necessary to make the Chaika picture complete.

63 Comments

The power brake bellows over the master cylinder looks very much like a 1950s Chrysler design. Not an easy arrangement to add brake fluid. When I owned my 59 Plymouth, I had to cut out a plastic jug handle to use as a spout to periodically top off my leaking brake system before I got the chance to go through it.

The Fordomatic would make sense, since the original Fordomatic/Merc-o-Matic was co-developed with Borg-Warner and pretty similar to the B-W transmissions that started showing up on high-end European cars around this time.

Stanislav, we have Chaika GAZ -13 in pretty good condition.
The location of the car in Czech Republic,not far from Prague.
Can you recommend us, as admirer of old cars where we can try to sell our Chaika?
Will be thankful for any answer.
Regards.
Sergeynordpointmon@gmail.com

Though, the cars had different names, the Chaika was really a replacement for the earlier Gaz-12 Zim. The Zim was actually also the largest and most expensive car a civilian could buy in Soviet Russia. And some 21 000 were made. If you had the money, and could get your hands on them. Most were used as rural taxis on predestined routes, something between a taxi and a bus, with fares being more expensive than a bus but cheaper than a taxi. Though, the Chaika was never sold or marketed to privateers…

The Chaika is riding quite high in the back empty, you can see that it really needs some payload to ride comfortably. The ride much be atrocious with no passengers. But those heavy springs are there for a reason, considering the roads at the time in rural Russia. The predecessor the Zim had its rear wheels moved outward and with reinforced springs, as the earlier cars had problemes fitting in the deep valleys left by all the tanks, trucks, and buses on all the russian backroads. If you look closely, you will see that it’s ride is extremely wide in the back. So, I guess the Chaikas heavy duty rear springs were put there by received wisdom.

It had been softly sprung and had a normal “flat” stance when new; the heavy duty springs were retrofitted later (several additional leaves from some truck actually). These cars saw some tough times in the 1990s, most of them have been used as light trucks (some even converted into pickups) or wedding limousines, with usual overload. This particular one was happy enought to keep its original drivetrain and even the mechanical push-button gear selector (many others got a truck V8 and a manual transmission with floor shifter). Due to it’s extremely long wheelbase, the Chayka was almost absolutely unfit for anything but relatively flat road (mud/gravel roads included, but not preffered). That was even highlighted in the User’s Manual, AFAIR.

Well, as I see it, the situation in the Eastern Germany was not the norm for the whole Eastern Block.

Reading for the first time about Eastern Germans waiting for their Trabbies for years or even decades I did not believe at first, as by the late 1970s maybe 1980s in most areas of the the USSR at least the Moskvitches and ZAZes were sold freely, without waiting lists. By mid-1980s the ZAZ was mostly making cars for disabled people, as Zaporozhetses didn’t sell quite well – people got a little picky and, considering that cars were relatively expensive (about 2 times costlier than on the free market) didn’t wish to spend their hardly earned money on outdated/lowly/unprestigious models, preferring to wait for some time and buy a Lada.

My grandad was buying a new model Lada every 5 to 6 years after about 1972 or 73 (2101, then 2103 or 06, then 2107 which he owned until 1994 – a year when it was indeed next to impossible to buy any car for 90% of people), and he was a Major of the Army (retired about 1990), which is not a very high rank. However, availability could also wary greatly depending on area (good in large cities and, strangely, many rural areas, where the demand was very low – maybe much worse in remote towns).

Volgas were the most problematic cars to buy, due to very low production figures (no more than 60-70 000 per year, about 50% of which came to the Taxi and another 20-30% were sold to state/social organizations). However, they were also the most problematic cars to maintain and they were not designed for individual owners to start with – so they were seen more as status symbols. FWD Sputniks (LADA Samara) were also very prestigeuos and very hard to get.

The thing is, however – personal cars in general usually were not seen as a way of daily transportation, but rather as an investment (you could trade a new Lada for a small apartment, for example) and a device for long-range journeys during summer vacations. Most people didn’t even try to drive in winter and kept their cas garaged from November to April. Therefore, the demand for cars was relatively low until 1990s.

As far as I’ve heard, in Czechoslovakia the local automotive industry was able too keep up with demand already by the 1970s and waiting lists for cars have been eliminated completely, however I can not attest for this.

Why the things were so much different in the DDR, the “face” of the Soviet block ? Well I do not know. DDR was always a “special” country. By the way, the first Trabants in the ex-USSR appeared only in 1990s; before that, anything with 4 wheels powered by a 2-stroke engine would have been either a “motor-wheelchair” for the disabled (which never were plentyful on the roads however) or a “custom” self-made car based on the latter or some motorcycle (also by far not a common sight).

Volvos really were the most common foreighn cars in the USSR, as well as early 1990s Russia. Most of them were fleet cars however. Most likely hte first foreign cars widely available to civilians (other than old prewar German cars which were still running) were used Japanese left-hand-drive cars in the mid-1980s (usually privately imported by mariners to the eastern part of the country).

When my father did his Army tour in Berlin back in the day (before the wall went up and you could move about all sectors rather freely), seems like most of what they drove were small Mercedes/BMW/Scandanavian cars. I can imagine there were a fair amount of ‘trapped’ vehicles on the Eastern Side since basically time froze for 27 years.

Sort of like Cuba, although Cuba climate much nicer to keeping cars going.

Ladas looked a lot like Fiats.

BuzzDog

Posted March 7, 2013 at 7:56 PM

Ladas were based on the Fiat 124, so that would explain the resemblance.

The origin of the expression “Molotov cocktail” comes from a claim by soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov (last name derived from the Russian word for hammer) that the red airforce was dropping food supplies to civilians in Helsinki during the Winter War between Finland and the soviet union when, in fact, they were dropping live ordinance from bombers taking off from airfields near Tallinn, Estonia (not yet occupied at the time). Finns laughingly called these “gifts” from the soviet people Molotov cocktails.

Wow those are quite something never seen one though I shot an earlier model for the cohort once, Why didnt Packard just sell out to the Russians the company would likely still exist and still be making these or an updated version of it. Cool find

Wow, I have an enormous brochure collection, but not a ZIL brochure! I thought my Zap and Moskvitch brochures were cool, but this ZIL one is an awesome find. Good thing I don’t have $125 (which is NZ$150) spare…!

Ironic that the perpetual critics of Western Capitalist Decadence would choose to imitate a style even many Westerners admit was astheticallly dubious, & associated with a bourgeois aristocratic brand at that. Surely a devout Communist would be more inspired by the Left Wing of car design from socialist countries, such as Tatra, Saab, or Citroën.

Well, you could believe that. But the Russians had a sense of flair. It was the same thing with architecture. There was a modernist 30’s trend, but they were all purged. Stalin had them all killed, more or less. In the 50’s the Russians built their neo-gothic “Seven Sisters”. More reminiscent om the roaring twenties Manhattan, inspired by buildings like the 1913 Woolworth Building, and the 1914 Manhattan Municipal Building.

Good points, & thanks for the link. There also could be the matter of exposure; Russia was flooded with American vehicles during WW2, esp. trucks, & benefited from Ford’s technical assistance (in building GAZ Model A clones) as early as 1929.

Actually, Neil you’re right on. In CZ, the Tatra was the party faithful’s transport of choice. Likewise, in the DDR, mid-ranking party members drove extended Volvo 264’s, and the Erich himself had a stretch Citroen CX as his official car. Saabs were never really on the radar of the leadership because they were designed with the driver in mind rather than the rear passengers. The rear legroom was not suitable for a limousine and even the extended wheelbase 900CD was far smaller than a CX Prestige or a rear engined Tatra. Check out this video/commercial for a ’60s Tatra-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpuweiODHw4
Hard to know who the commercial was aimed at- but you do want one now I bet.

The Russians, as Ingvar noted, had more…. ‘classical’ tastes. The repeated seagull shape in the grille was a nice touch.

Neil

Posted March 8, 2013 at 2:16 PM

Thanks for the link; that flick looks pretty subversive, with the Tatra occupants apparently evading the police, & the jazz soundtrack. No wonder the Russians cracked down in ’68.

Your classical theory agrees with what I heard about Stalin opposing what he considered artistic “formalism.” Perhaps this is why Soviet composers remain popular – I like Prokoviev myself.

I’d be curious to know why this car has the somewhat frivolous name “Chaika” (seagull) while other Soviet cars had geographic names (eg Volga), socialist battle cry names (Pobeda, meaning Victory) or just company acronyms like ZIS or ZIL). Stanislav … any insight?

Although I am not certain why “Chaika” was chosen as a car name in particular, it was a more esteemed name in Russia and the Soviet Union than “seagull” in English-speaking countries, used for a number of Soviet consumer products. Also, “Chaika” was the name of one of Anton Chekov’s greatest plays, considered a masterpiece of Russian literature.

Several years ago I came across a 1986 Chaika limo at a car show at the Distillery in Toronto. It was black (naturally) and resembled an early ’70’s Mercury with front seats that looked like they had been lifted from a Mercedes of similar vintage. The interior was an ugly light-brown color but it had plenty of room in the back. The owner said it had come from Bulgaria… I’ll have to scan the photos and send ’em in sometime.

Paul – Once again, I am amazed that someone besides me has an interest in these old Soviet beasts. I cannot add any information to improve on what you and Stanislav have provided, so I will simply contribute a pair of photographs of black Chaikas from 1987, the first taken in Moscow and the second in either Armenia or Georgia, I cannot remember which.

I always just assumed that the Soviets had somehow purchased the old Packard tooling from Studebaker to make these cars! I’ll have to admit that was a very silly assumption; they did indeed have something back then called the Cold War. If you compare these shots of the white Chaika with the pictures used in JPC’s CC from last year of the ’56 Packard Patrician, the differences become really obvious, particularly if you compare the profile shots.

Most of these (about 90%) were painted black. Most others were painted white and generally used for weddings (weddings of any people, not high rank party officials), Ive seen a couple of these that were painted mocca, but that was about 20 years ago. There is also a rumor that the chief of the Moscow fire brigade had a red one, but Ive never even seen a picture of it.

A great find,I only saw one in the metal once,a rather scruffy but sound example for sale in the South Kensington area of London about 10 years ago.The Russians weren’t averse to copying a good design,the Dakota and Catalina were built in Russia during the war after some were supplied under Lend Lease

I may be wrong but wasn’t a Chaika station wagon produced beside the limo (albeit in very small numbers) in a special factory in Riga? I remember seeing old black & white pictures in a Latvian newspaper quite a few years ago, too bad I didn’t keep the article. Apparently it was an enormous machine. Never seen one in the metal. Wikipedia mentions it only briefly and doesn’t give any details. Are there any left at all? Maybe Stanislav can fill me/us in about this one…?

I’m pretty sure someone did a diecast modle of a Chaika wagon. According to this website – http://www.autogallery.org.ru/gaz13.htm – the ‘wagon’ was officially an ambulance. Apparently just 20 were built (and 3,179 sedans). Some pics from the website and googlepics:

That’s true. They actually took ready-made Chayka sedans, sent them to Riga, there they were chopped and built into wagons. As far as I know mostly ambulances. Maybe there was a hearse conversion as well, but honestly, I don’t know if anyone besides the highest ranking officials ever got anything more posh for funeral than a GAZ truck. Anyway, around 20 such wagons were built. If you pay attention to the pictures, you’ll notice that the sedan rear doors remained intact, also the C pillar was moved to the back and an additional section was installed between them. Here is a page I found a while ago with excellent quality pics of a wagon and sedan besides each other:

The engine in Russian limos was not designed bespoke for them. As the Chaika was made by GAZ, it used the same V8 as the GAZ 66 cab-over 4×4 military truck, thus keeping costs down.

Likewise, the ZIL engine in their limos was used by ZIL heavy trucks. The idea of alloy engines made sense in a country where it is very cold and machine shops are few and far between. The engines could be rebuilt using cylinder liners and pistons rather than having to rebore, just replacing all wearing parts. In the trucks, this could be done in-situ.

It was only the autoboxes that were bespoke for the limos, and as Stainslav noted earlier, were reverse engineered based on American transmissions. I bet they were far more reliable than the Ultramatic too.

The Chaika/ Gaz66 V8 was also put into ‘pursuit’ M24 Volgas too. Unfortunately, the Rover p4 era suspension and drum brakes weren’t updated and legend has it that most have met with grizzly ends at the hands of over-exuberant KGB operatives. The Volga was far more suited to the Land Rover-esque 4 cylinder than the power of a big V8.

One note: actualy both V8s had been initially designed for the limos, and only later found their ways to the trucks. Truck engines were of smaller displacement (4.7 L for the 3-ton GAZ-53, which was the most widespread truck in the uSSR together with the 6-cylinder powered GAZ-52, and 4×4 GAZ-66; 5.2 L for PAZ buses; 6 L for ZIL-130, a 5-ton truck) but kept the general layout of their ancestors. The Chayka 5.5 L engine in its initial form was used on BRDM-2 armored reconnaissance vehicle (detuned, with low compression and 1 2-bbl carb).

V8 powered Volgas used their own engines (designated 23, 2424, later 503 and 505), which however also had been derieved from the venerable Chayka 5.5 L unit. Late production cars (since early 80s) often employed Lucas-licensed disc brakes up front as well as improved front suspension (with increased castor angle), what made them much safer to operate.

There were also V6 powered cars (V6 Cologne engines imported from W. Germany) which handled better and were much more balanced overall.

First of all, someone mentioned the ZIM GAZ-12, but have you seen the Chayka / ZIM hybrid which was built for those of the Nomenclatura who wanted to go in even more modest way than a regular Chayka ? (not by the GAZ though – car repair plants were assembling these)

Second, lets look at some NON-Packard looking mock-ups of the Chayka (still looking American, but with a more traditional front end styling largely influenced by the M21 Volga; considering this is an early version, my guess would be that it was “packardized” later to look more in line with the ZIL; also note this is a “two-in-one” mockup, with left and right sides depicting two versions of the design):

Oh and the very very last ones )
a Hungarian 300 cc-powered microcar with Chayka-like styling, named the Festival, which was built by some artist named Kálmán Szabadi (it is said that the body was made of shellac):

In the mid ’80’s as a teenager, this kind of Tchaika’s sound was the first ever V8 sound that I heard. A soviet improvement of classic ’50’s american style. That certain car was obviously a kind of foreign official party-leader car…or something. At that time no private persons could own a GAZ-13 Tchaika.

Here’s a recent set of restoration photos of a ZIM GAZ-12, which was mostly Chrysler-based. The pictures show one interesting exception to the reverse-engineering. Instead of an American-style frame, the body is mounted on a platform like VW or Lancia.

The grille and headlamp surrounds like more to me like ’56 Packard than ’55, with more angle on the scoop and black paint inside. Likewise the push button operated transmission. The taillights look more like a ’56 Clipper than the what the ’55-’56 senior Packards used. Anyway, i’m just glad they didn’t copy the ’58.

I have one of those headlamps in my collection, brand new. Bought it at what remained of a Lada dealership in Ontario in 2002 or so. It is very shoddy in every respect, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the homologation markings—purporting to indicate a type approval granted by France—are fraudulent. The picture is almost as shoddy as the lamp itself, but if you look carefully at the last row of characters near the bottom-centre of the lens, you’ll see СССР (USSR in Cyrillic letters).